Four Months
by Lily-Lou-Korra17
Summary: The Triwizard Tournament has been revived after hundreds of years. Lily and James both travel to Beauxbatons with the other three students selected from Hogwarts to hopefully be worthy adversaries in the upcoming tournament. Little do the two know, that the tasks in stall for them are far worse than they originally anticipated. James x Lily. Bad at summaries sorry!
1. Chapter 1

Triwizard tournament 1977

1st of September

"Lily darling…wakeup honey it's school time." Said a soft voice. There was a rustle of bed sheets and Lily turned over, covering her ears with her quilt. "Oh come on now, it's school time! Hogwarts time!"

"Mhmm…" hummed Lily.

"Get up Miss Evans, or I'll push you out." The previous warm and soft voice had abruptly changed to become hard and stern.

"Do your best Mrs Evans," came a hoarse voice from the bed.

"Yes, well I don't think I'll need to. Just thought you ought to know, my sweet, that it is ten o'clock in the morning, and if I'm not mistaken, your train leaves at, ehem, 'precisely eleven o'clock'," mimicked Mrs Evans.

This sudden information had seemed to work in rousing Lily. She sat up hastily, her emerald eyes wide and alert. She turned to her analogue clock positioned on her tidy bedside table, next to a moving photo of her and Marlene waving admirably. It was in fact, ten o'clock. "Dear lord mum! Why didn't you wake me up earlier! Crap, what if I miss the train! Jesus Christ, shi-"

"I'll stop you right there young lady. I'll also have you know I tried waking you up several times but you seemed to be awfully reluctant to move," Mrs Evans bustled around the room picking up dirty clothing, "You have half an hour- forty-five minutes at the most to get ready Lily, you had better hurry up." With the blink of an eye, Mrs Evans had swiftly left the room and shut the door.

"Shit!" exclaimed Lily. She rubbed her eyes and balled up her fists.

"Crap, ok let's go." She said to herself. Lily emerged from her bed, swinging her legs over the edge and touching her toes to the cold wooden floor boards beneath. She winced at the rapid change of temperature. At least the floor boards in the dorms will be warm, she thought to herself whilst standing up.

Her room was small, but charming. A large book case lined the wall next to her bed, bridging over the top of the wooden door and stretching to the other side of the room. It was jammed with books from anything like 'One Hundred uses for Boomslang Skin' to Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice'. However, places were sparse, due to the vast amount of school books she had packed in her trunk. Opposite was a beautiful cottage window, the latch lifted and opened just enough to let the crisp scent of Autumn in. Stained glass of red butterflies embellished the very top of the window. Her wardrobe and dressing table laid adjacent to it.

Lily scuffled to her dresser and sat down. Simple makeup, photos and hair trinkets were strewn on the surface. She grasped her hair brush and began to work at the tangled nots in her auburn curls. Half an hour, she thought to herself, Christ mum I'll be pushing it. Lily knotted her eyebrows a cursed at the bursts of pain that came from brushing her hair. After several minutes of swearing and detangling, Lily immediately got to her feet and started to search through her draws and wardrobe for clean clothes. They were, like her bookcase, seemingly sparse due to the action of packing for a new school year. Finally, she settled on some high waisted jeans and a bell sleeved maroon shirt.

"Lily! Come on darling, we need to get going! It's ten thirty!" came Mrs Evans voice from down stairs.

Lily grunted, "Coming!" she ran her fingers through her freshly brushed hair, grabbed her wand and shoved a pair of leather shoes on without any socks. Mrs Evans called up the stairs repeatedly as Lily fumbled down them. Once Lily had reached the bottom of the staircase she remembered something quite essential, "Bollocks- just a sec I have to get my trunk."

Before she could run back up the stairs, Mr Evans replied gruffly, "Your Majesty, your trunk is awaiting you in the car," he added, "along with a rather sulky sister." Mrs Evans glared at him pointedly.

Lily's face dropped, "Right…" every year Lily's sister, Petunia, had fought with her parents so as to not see her off at Kings Cross, and certainly not Platform Nine and Three-Quarters itself. Lily forced a smile, "I guess we had better get going then."

Mrs Evans put a warm arm around Lily. They walked to the door, Lily a little reluctantly. Mr Evans held the door open to let them through and subsequently locked it after them. They hurried to the green Austin Maxis waiting in the driveway. Mrs Evans let go of her daughter and went to sit in the front seat. Lily hesitated at the handle. She peered into the back seats and saw Petunia, determinedly glaring out the window away from her. Lily felt a lump in her throat but quickly swallowed it and pulled the door open.

"Hi Tunie." She said. Petunia merely huffed and stared even more compelling out the window. Mrs Evans pulled down her visor and peered through the mirror at Petunia, she pursed her lips. Nothing I wasn't expecting, thought Lily, but a pang of pain was still present. Mr Evans entered the car and turned the ignition.

He coughed into his hanky and said chiefly, "Off we go again, another year for Lily flower." Petunia rolled her eyes. The car engine purred and began to move out the driveway. Like every year, it was a slow 15-minute trip that felt like hours to Lily. The silence was deafening, and the only noise were Petunia's incessant huffs and puffs. Finally, Mr Evans parked the car outside of Kings Cross and everyone piled out of the car eagerly. Lily strode to the boot of the car and Mr Evans popped it open. Her trunk lay there bulging. Lily grabbed one side while her father grabbed the other and heaved. With a loud thud, the trunk hit the ground.

"God dad! How on earth did you get this down the stairs?" gasped Lily.

"One might think it a feat Lily flower," said Mr Evans placing a kiss on her forehead, "But I just have immeasurable strength see," He held up a bicep. Laughing, Lily slapped it away.

"Oh come on dad", she glanced at her watch, "We have fifteen minutes, better get going." Lily and her mother grabbed the handle to her trunk and rolled it into Kings Cross. They all paced to the brick wall which concealed Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Mr Evans put an arm around Lily and Mrs Evans took hold of Lily's hand. Petunia stood back. Mr Evans craned his neck to look at her.

"Not coming Tunie?" he asked.

Petunia tapped her foot, "Of course I'm not coming." She spat sourly. Mr Evans raised his eyebrows and looked back at the brick wall. Mrs Evans, turned around.

"Come now Tunie, we all have to see your sister off." She said lovingly.

"And why is that mother?" she hissed.

"Because she is your sister, I am not having this argument with you now Petunia, we are all going through and that is that." Said Mrs Evans sternly. It was enough for Petunia to walk forward and stand behind them.

Lily creased her forehead said over her shoulder, "Petunia, you know m…muggles can't go through the gate themselves." Petunia raised an eyebrow and scrutinized her sister.

"Petunia!" exclaimed Mrs Evans. Petunia scrunched up her face and grudgingly put a hand on Lily's shoulder. Lily could feel her sisters glare but set off through the brick wall anyway.

Platform Nine and Three-Quarters materialized around them. The steam emitting for the Hogwarts express wafted throughout the station. Lily glanced at her watch again, "Good golly gosh, I have ten minutes. Just let me load my trunk onto the train and I'll come back out to say goodbye." Her parents smiled whilst her sister brooded and gazed around the station. Lily hitched her trunk onto the train and scurried down the narrow hall to find a cabin. Everything was seemingly full apart from one which had two other trunks lying on each seat. Lily didn't bother checking whom they belonged to and chucked her trunk on top of one. She figured she could pick it up and move it somewhere else once the train had left.

She reached the door of the train and hopped down from it. Then scampered back to her parents. Her mother immediately enclosed Lily within her arms.

"Oh I'm going to miss you!" she squeaked. Lily squeezed her mother back.

"I'll be back for Christmas, that's only a couple of months away." Replied Lily.

"I know I know, but still," she wiped some tears from her eyes, "I'm going to miss you." Lily smiled and gave her mum another hug then turned to her father.

"Come here you rascal." He said, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Urghh," Lily grumbled. Mr Evans released her and she took a deep breath.

"Now I need to see one of these Quidditch games sometime soon Lily, I'm sure you can wiggle me in, especially since you're a woman in a position of power now." Smiled Mr Evans. Lily pondered on the 'in a position of power' notion for a moment and then realised.

"Damn! Dad thanks for reminding me! I'm a prefect! I need to help the first years. God I forgot!" Mrs Evans chuckled, "Ok well, mwah-see-mwah-you soon!" Lily said, kissing her parents on the cheek, she peered at Petunia. "…See you Tunie." Lily didn't bother to listen for a reply, she waved and jogged over to a bunch of first years whom looked rather confused and stunned.

By the time Lily had finished shepherding, directing and helping first years with their trunks, the train was already up and moving. It had been for the past 20 minutes. Lily walked down the length of the train, searching for the cabin she had left her trunk in. She walked past a rather sparse one with two boys but didn't think much of it. Then realised there was an extra trunk on the floor being used as a foot rest.

She wrenched open the door and declared rather annoyedly that that was her trunk. The boys looked at her and grinned.

"Evans! How wonderful to see you." Announced non- other than James Potter.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2; Reunited with Old Friends

"Potter, should have known. Could you please refrain from using my trunk as a foot rest?" asked Lily grudgingly. James cocked an ever so bushy eyebrow, waited a moment and then slid his foot off her trunk. The other boy, also using the trunk as a foot rest smirked, leaned back against the wall and crossed his hands behind his head.

Lily crooked her head towards him, "That means you too Black." She stated.

"Evans! What happened to calling me Sirius? The end of last term we were on a first name basis." Sirius crossed his arms and attempted to give Lily an ironic puppy dog eyed pout. Ironic because of the fact that Sirius' Animagus was a dog. Lily had found out about Sirius, James and Peter's "animal secret" at the end of the previous school year. She had had her suspicions about Remus' condition since fourth year, but didn't act on the thought until Remus had told her about his Lycanthropy mid last year. It was all quite a mind toss really.

A tendril of hair mingled with Lily's nose making it itch. She blew it away, exasperated. "Honestly," she shoved Sirius' legs off the trunk and seized the handle, "Maybe I'll use your first name when you treat my belongings with respect." James snickered, Lily gave him a pointed look.

"Right love, sorry, won't happen again."

"Good," said Lily straightening her back, "Now…I'll just..." she wanted to say 'go' but knew fairly well that she had no-where to go. All the cabins were full. So she opted for a new topic of conversation, "Where's Peter?"

"Oh! So you use his first name!" said Sirius petulantly. Lily rolled her eyes and looked to James. Immediately, his hand went to ruffle his already messy black hair and then to adjust his glasses. Lily remembered all too well a time when she couldn't stand this now engrained reflex James seemed to have. But nowadays she had learned to tolerate it, if not like it…no, definitely not, she corrected the thought.

"He's ah, busy…" James trailed off. This peaked Lily's interest.

"Oh? Busy huh? Potter, the nine-letter word suspicion just struck me like a lightning bolt." Sirius shot up from his seat.

"Well my dear Lilykins-"

"-Lily what-" Interrupted Lily, but Sirius pressed a forceful finger to her lips, rather unflatteringly. James got to his feet and leaned past her to slide open the cabin door. His breath fluttered over her neck, instantaneously every muscle within Lily contracted. James leant backed and gazed at her puzzled. All of the sudden Lily realised exactly how tall James was.

"Alright there Evans?" inquired James. Lily's eyes flickered and she regained her composure.

"Yup." She smacked her lips.

Sirius groaned, "Never mind never mind, just come with us Evans, you can leave your trunk here. No one will be in here to use it as a foot rest while we're gone." Lily sighed and supposed she had no choice.

James and Sirius ushered her out of the cabin. Together they trod down the narrow hall, Lily following Sirius to his desired destination. The confining space of the compartment corridor was always bothersome when another person came from the opposite direction. Especially when it was a Slytherin.

Rosier and Snape stood expectantly in front of the three. James took a step forward behind her, and Lily suddenly found herself half shielded and half sandwiched between Sirius and James. Her discomfort quickly subsided when Rosier's voice drawled through the gaps betwixt Sirius and herself.

"Black, I nearly mistook you for homeless with that hair…oh wait." Severus sniggered at Rosier's insult.

"He has more of a home than you'll ever have friends." Spat James.

Rosier narrowed his eyes at James, "You're a disgrace to your pureblood name Potter, both of you are," he then peered over Sirius' shoulder at Lily, "Tut tut, you just proved me right Potter. Associating with a- carrot topped mudblood." Rosier smirked, apparently satisfied with his taunt. James' eye twitched, and Lily could hear the him shifting for his wand. She acted quickly, touching her hand to James' slightly signalling him to wait. Boys honestly, she thought herself, violence isn't always the answer.

Sirius had also begun to reached for his wand but Lily stepped out from behind him and jostled past to face Rosier and Snape. Snape's breath hitched when she immerged.

"Rosier, if you think calling me that ghastly and petty name affects me anymore, then you really are dumber that we first thought." Said Lily astoundingly politely. She braved a glance at Severus, like Petunia earlier, he was staring determinedly out the train window. "But as slurs like that are against school rules, I as a Gryffindor prefect, might be forced to have a word with Professor Slug horn, Slytherins' head of house."

Rosier goggled at Lily, then gave her a dangerous stare, "If that's a threat you dirty mud-"

"Uh uuh," sung Lily, crossing her arms and furrowing her brows, "Really Evan, you might have to go see Madam Pomfrey about your hearing. Or at least have a test taken to see if a bludger made you brain dead. And I'm sure that your simple math is good enough to see that you are outnumbered." Lily could practically hear the grins of James and Sirius behind her. You could see the rage building up in Rosier's face, but instead of throwing another insult their way, he merely grabbed Severus and shoved past the three, stomping down the length of the train.

Lily released a breath, "That went well."

James started laughing, "New you had wit Evans," he chucked her a wink, "Now hurry up, we have to catch up to Mildred."

"Who?" asked Lily, if Sirius and James were dragging her somewhere to be their wing woman then she'd rather leave right then and there.

"Mildred? The trolley witch? Come on Evans keep up." Expressed James. Sirius threw his arms in the air, subsequently hitting his elbow on a copper pipe and growled something along the lines of "you son of an old wart ridden hag". He then without another word and cradling his arm, lead the way down the train.

Lily trod along behind trying to keep up with Sirius' long strides. Finally, about 20 paces ahead of them was the Trolley witch- Mildred- as James liked to call her, pushing the Honeydukes cart along the red velvet carpet. She crossed from cabin to cabin sliding open the doors with her wand, calling, "Anything from the trolley!" Lily could smell the scent of her favourite wizard confectionary, Pumpkin Pasties, wafting into the air. She closed her eyes and let the aroma tingle her senses, she allowed a small smile. Which was interrupted by a flick on the cheek and chuckle.

"Potter! How many tim-"

" _Shh shh_ , look." Whispered James. Lily followed his pointing finger to the Honeydukes trolley.

"So?" asked Lily, obviously unimpressed. Sirius took her by the shoulders and positioned her in front of him, then James pointed once again at the trolley. But this time Lily saw something- something moving. It wasn't bubbling or fizzing like the trolley normally did, but was _moving,_ "My god but what…" she trailed off, abruptly understanding why they had brought her there in the first place. A small rat had multiple different sweets toggled to a little black shoe lace, all of which was fastened around its waist.

Lily mouthed something but no words came out. She was too flabbergasted to form words. But with a croak of her voice she said, "Is that…Peter?"

"Yep, great little tyke en' he?" mumbled Sirius, putting a tooth pick to his lips.

Lily snapped out of her daze and frowned, "…But you two have more than enough money as is, why would you need to steel? That's not right. In fact, that's insulting." Lily had become irritated that the boys thought this was funny, it was a neat trick yes, but there were plenty of people at Hogwarts that couldn't afford to buy Honeydukes sweets. Lily took a step forward, figuring she'd have to pluck Peter from the trolley when James grasped her wrist.

"Come on Lily, we didn't mean to offend anyone," reasoned James. But Lily wrenched her hand from his grasp.

"Don't call me that!" she was still not used to James using her first name, "And don't grab me like that." She also didn't know why she was angry. It was almost a reflex she had adopted from the years of severely disliking James. Again, ironically James looked like a deer in headlights.

"This isn't right, and both of you know that," Lily peered down at Sirius' black shoe and noted the missing shoelace, "Besides, you'll need your shoelace back Sirius." She looked up at James and hesitated, but left it at that. Then, with a huff, she turned on her heal and strode towards the Honeydukes trolley.

Before she could reach it, James swept past her whispering, "Cocky Evans aren't you? You'll need a distraction." He headed straight for 'Mildred' and cleared his throat, "Mildred! How are you love? Looking and smelling sweeter than ever," he said with a pearly grin. The witch was flattered and consequently blushed. Lily made for the trolley.

She kneeled down on the other side of the trolley, picking through the various sweets to find Peter. James' voice got louder, which she took as a 'Hurry up Evans' sign. With a loss of patience, she shoved her hand into the packed trolley and surveyed the area with her hand. She felt something soft brush her hand and grabbed its tail. With a smile she started to heave, but then a sharp pain resonated from her forefinger, she kept hold of Peter and wrenched her hand from the trolley. Still holding him by the tail, she scurried off towards Sirius cursing.

Still swearing, she untied the shoelace surrounding the squeaking rat with the sweets attached and handed it to Sirius, "There, and at the expense of my forefinger!" she exclaimed, "Take him back to your bloody cabin and shut the blinds."

"Already on it Evans, sorry about your finger, he can get a little eager at times," said Sirius squeezing Peter a little too hard that he let out a small squeak.

"Whatever, just go before I report you and your antics," Lily was over the conversation and Sirius could see it. He turned on his heal and strut down the train back to his cabin. Lily winced at the throbbing pain in her finger, Peters' Animagus might have been small, but it delivered a mighty big gash in her finger. As Lily inspected it James came trotting over rubbing his cheek, it was slightly red.

She looked up and scrutinised his cheek, "Merlin's beard what happened to you?"

"I got a little too eager with Mildred…"

Lily gasped, "Gross James!"

"Well I didn't mean to touch her! She was turning around when you were standing up with Peter! So I reached out and touched her arm…and…well she slapped me…aha…" James continued to rub his cheek. Lily felt the corner of her mouth twitch into a smile, but then grimaced at the aching in her finger. James looked down and dropped his hand from his cheek. He reached for her hand and scrutinised the dripping blood for a few seconds before grasping his wand from his back pocket. Lily froze, it was an odd sensation, and she didn't know what to do with herself. She could feel heat rising in her cheeks resulting in a furious blush. His hands are awfully warm, she caught herself thinking, and turned her head from James, adamant that he wouldn't see the growing redness in her cheeks.

James uttered, "Tergeo," and the blood covering her finger whipped away at once. He wavered for a second and then released her hand. "There, you might want to do your own healing charms from now on, I've never been very good at them myself," he said.

"I-I know, I saw you trying to heal Sirius' broken nose in the middle of a Quidditch match, it nearly fell off completely," Lily laughed and so did James, "…um…thankyou I guess, I have band aids in my trunk, so I'll patch it up with them." James looked at her puzzled, "Right, band aids, they're small muggle bandages that stick to you." Lily explained.

"Well that's groovy," Said James awkwardly, throwing a hand behind his head. Lily cringed, the word 'groovy' was only really used in the muggle world. She let it slide, allowing herself a chuckle under her breath.

"Lily!" the awkwardness evaporated as a voice came hurtling towards James and her from behind. Lily twisted her torso to see who was calling. Remus came jogging gracefully towards them, dodging students as he went.

Lily's demeanour brightened, "Remus! How lovely to see you!" she gave him a warm embrace once he caught up to them.

"Right she is Moony, looking better than ever," said a chuffed James, also embracing Remus heartily. Remus grinned at the both of them and then looked between the two. He began slowly, "Sorry if I interrupted anything…but Lily, I need you to help with prefect duties, we have our own cabin remember?" The awkwardness sunk over them like a heavy cloud and Lily's feet faltered.

"Of-course, oh I completely forgot! I just need to grab my trunk!" she started to turn around when Remus patted her on the shoulder.

"It is quite alright Lily, James and I can fetch it whilst you look for the cabin." Lily nodded and watched as Remus and James headed down the corridor, she figured they probably wanted to catch up without an extra pair of ears listening in, so she headed off in the opposite direction.

TBC- Next chapter will be up next week! Hope you're all enjoying so far!


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